Home Office

Disregards and pardons scheme

Miss Sarah Dines: I am pleased to announce that the Government is today bringing into force sections 194 and 195 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 which will extend the scope of the Government’s disregards and pardons scheme. This is a significant step forward in addressing the wrongs of the past when LGBT people were criminalised for their sexuality in civilian life and while serving in the Armed Forces. The original Scheme was established in 2012 to enable men to apply to have certain homosexual offences for consensual sex removed from their records. This extension to the Scheme will widen the scope to include any repealed or abolished offence that was used to criminalise same-sex sexual activity. The Scheme will continue to apply to both civilian and service offences and conditions will remain in place to ensure that only those circumstances befitting of a disregard will be removed from the record. Individuals will be able to apply to the scheme using an application form which has been published today on Gov.uk, along with accompanying guidance.

Ministry of Justice

Judicial Conduct Investigations Office Annual Report 2021–2022

Alex Chalk: With the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, I will today publish the sixteenth annual report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).The JCIO supports the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor in our joint statutory responsibility for judicial discipline.The judiciary comprises approximately 22,000 individuals serving across a range of jurisdictions. Over the past year, the JCIO received 1,817 complaints against judicial office-holders. 33 investigations resulted in disciplinary action.I have placed copies of the report in the libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.Copies are also available online at: https://www.complaints.judicialconduct.gov.uk/reportsandpublications/